Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-03-11
FAULTY MAIL SERVICE.
HOW LETTERS ARE DELAYED BY IN
EFFICIENT POSTAL CLERKS.
Testimony of Prominent Business Men
Local Letters sent to BOstOn-Lctters
Occupy Four Days in Going 200
Miles a Disgraceful state
of fairs.


among our professional and business men
owing to the extent to which mail mat
Ger is at present delayed through miscar-
riage, and the cause for complaint seems
10 be increasing rather than diminishing
This is what would naturally be expected
under the present method of appointing
as postal agents those who have had little
experience. II is the testimony of all who
have ever watched operations in mail
car that the agents have all they can pos
sibly dOto distribute the mail taken on at
certain points before the next station is
reached and it requires long practice to
Become proficient and correCtin the work
Furthermore so severe is this task that
some OF the new appOinteeS have found it
impossible TO do the work and re
tain their health. Under this cond-
sion of affairs new postal agents
are appointed and after compare
lively short apprenticeship are given the
entire responsibility of handling the mails
AS result complaints are being made
in all quarters. The FREE PRESS is in
as good a position as any business estab-
lishment to learn of faulty mail service
and it Is no eXaggeration to say that more
complaints have been received at this
office ON account of missent and delayed
mail matter during the past three months
than during the ten years preceding. We
could give instances by the score to sub
Stanllate this statement but in order to
meet any possible charge of partisanship
in the matter we have obtained permits
sion to present data secured from some of
the best known business institutions in this
city.
The Merchants National bank of this
city has received as many rs four letters
N q single day that were mssent md
scarcely week passes during which there
are not half dozen miscarried letters re
ceived Their correspondence is nearly
all done with printed envelopes so that
errors are on that account the less eX-
cusable. Owing to the fact that delay
OF several days IN mail matter Is matter
of considerable consequence where money
matters are concerned President Wood
house took measures to ascertain whether
or not the fault could not be corrected to
certain degree, and he accordingly be-
Zgan sending to George II. Dame of Boston,
superintendent of the railway mail service
Tor the first division, the envelopes con
Gaining letters that had been missent
The following is sample of the cor
respOndence;
BURLINGTON, Vt, Jan. % 1887
tr. Dune, Special 1gent P. 0 Dcpt.:
Dear Sir: enclose a few more specimens
Of the blundcrs of the =. O. employees IN this
section. They are of constant occurrence
The mail service N New England is IN worse
condition than have known it for more than
30 years. Your truly,
President Merchants National Bank.
BosTON, Mass. Feb. %, 1887
c, ". IVoodhottse, Esq, President Merchants
National Bank, burlington Vt:
return herewith all papers with reference
30 the missent letters as per envelopes en-
closed. Although the result of investigation
Is not entirely satisfactory, trust it may be
The means IF preventing similar errors in the
future. Nevertheless il they should occur
should be pleased to hear from you. as we de-
sire to have the mails properly forwarded.
GEORGE Z. DAME,
Superintendent First Division Railway Mail
1t will be noticed from the wording of
Mr. Warehouses; letter that this was not
che first time that he had enclosed mis-
sent envelopes to Superintendent Dame |
and a number have been sent since that |
time, Up to the present time there has |
seemed to be no improvement in the ser |
vice, on the contrary errors continue to |
become more frequent as the number of |
inefficient postal clerks appointed in |
creases, and bank officers tremble rs they |
think OF what the result will be when the |
entire postal service is performed by
nOvices.
On certain day letters were mailed at
Ottawa to a prominent lumber firm in this
city whose name can be learned at this
office, another letter was sent the follow
-ng day and another on the next day but
one. They We're all received together on
-he morning of the fifth day, having been
missent to Montpelier and returned to this
city after delay of several days. Each of
the day after it was mailed.
The same firm received through the
postofiice February % two letters mailed
at Chicopee Falls, Mass, the 2lst. There
were no marks indicating where they had
been in their wanierings, eXceRt that they
airy losses will result from any of these
Latter instances of a faulty mail service
-emains to be seen. There were. however,
,arge interests involved.
A registered letter mailed at North Will
,iston addressed to prominent firm in
this city did not arrive here till the second
day after. Another case was that of a
letter mailed in NergenneS by a certain
party Who wrote another letter to the same
address the next morning Both of the let
tiers arrived here on the morning of the
third day, and the first letter was rendered
valueless through the delay.
One of our residents received on Mon
day, several weeks since, a letter which
ned been mailed at Charlotte the proceed
ing Friday, whereas he should have re
ceived ii saturday morning at the latest.
In the meantime the pOstmarks showed
hat the letter had been carried to Boston
and back. 1t contained directions as to
some money matters and as result of its
miscarriage the lady who sent it lost "A
considerable sum. The name of the re-
oeiver in each of the above c Uses can be
furnished by us If necessary. We might
continue reCOuutiug errors to great length
Dut the above list is sufficiently compre-
lensive as to character and locality to
show that faulty mail service is not con
lined to any one locality, bat is general
nd far reaching in its disastrous results
n letter was mailed in Burlington Feb
,'uary %, for New York. Not getting q
reply, the sender wrote again and was In
formed that his first letter had not come